Toddler Check-In

[chatterbox]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?

What are your big challenges right now?

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?

What is your toddler eating these days?

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?

[chatterbox]

What are your big challenges right now?
So DD (just turned 2) is still drinking milk out of a bottle The pediatrician told us to get rid of the bottle at her 18-month appointment, but with all of the big changes (and our own lack of energy) we decided to wait. I have no idea how we are going to get her to ditch the bottles. She takes a bottle at nap time and to go to bed at night and if (read when) she wakes up in the middle of the night. And a few times throughout the day. She drinks a ton of milk, way more than she's probably supposed to have. Any tips from someone who has been there?

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
She is obsessed with trains right now and is constantly going around making the choo choo noise with hand motions. And she just got new pi's that are adorable on her

What is your toddler eating these days?
She is loving shrimp and grapes right now. And toast as long as I let her butter it herself

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
She's starting to interact a little more especially now that he smiles at her. He loves watching her!!!

[zombiesquad]

What a great idea. I have been at my wit's end with my 3yo lately.

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?
For the most part, everything is good. I expected there to be some rough patches with a new baby and we're certainly going through some right now.

What are your big challenges right now?
We are in the throes of living with a threenager. I wake up and wonder which 3yo will I get today? Happy and agreeable or grumpy and stubborn. I usually get the grumpy and stubborn kid. I have to be very careful how I word things. One false move on my part and the whole morning is a disaster. Right now we are working on pooping in the potty and no in her pull up at night. I sat in the bathroom for an hour waiting for her to poop one night. She refused to go. Went to bed and of course she pooped. It's been like that three nights in a row. We've tried bribing and rewards and both are ineffective with her. I've talked to her doctor and she definitely thinks even though she may not be able to stay dry through the night, she is old enough to know that pooping in the pull up is not okay. Ugh!

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
Since she started preschool, it is so fun to hear about her day and her new friends. She comes home and sings songs she learned and her vocabulary has really increased.

What is your toddler eating these days?
At home she doesn't eat the best. I hear that's a different story at school. But she's now excited about making a happy plate. She eats mostly chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, spaghetti, Chinese food--you know, real healthy stuff. She's terrible about vegetables, but loves fruit so I make sure to add that to whatever she's eating.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
She loves her little brother. She always gives him kisses and is very concerned when he's crying. However, I know that him being in the house is probably the cause of her random behavior at times. I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy it anyway because they will both grow up so fast.

No tips about the bottle, chatterbox. DD has proven to be a cold turkey kind of kid when it was time to get rid of things or she just did it on her own. It was the only thing that worked for us.

[peachesncream]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We are doing great! 2u2 is not as hard as I was imagining (maybe because I was basically imagining it was impossible).

What are your big challenges right now? Probably toddler tantrums and getting her behavior under control. Also not laughing at her when she is being a pistol is a huge challenge.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She loves to sing and read to her sister and she will finally ask to hold her on her lap (rather than walking over and exclaiming "up! up!" while trying to pick her up)

What is your toddler eating these days? We have days where she eats whatever we put in front of her and then we have days where I'm googling "can a toddler live on cheese alone"

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? A absolutely loves C. It warms my heart so much. And C is getting more interactive and recognizes A and calms when she is around. C was not necessarily planned and I had a lot of fears and anxiety about it all but seeing the two of them together makes me realize this is absolutely how things were supposed to be.

[carissa325]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We are doing pretty well.

What are your big challenges right now?
Potty training

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
If I don't put a headband in her hair he points at them and says "uh oh mama baby".

What is your toddler eating these days?
Everything except meat. We are very lucky that he's a good eater.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
He loves her and has to know where she is at all times.

[halfahippy]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We're surviving and doing pretty well

What are your big challenges right now? The attitude isn't super fun. He's started throwing things when he doesn't get his way. zombiesquad my 3yo nephew sucks at potty training too. He has essentially pee potty trained himself but absolutely refuses to poop in the potty. I'm so over it. I have no idea what to do and my brother and in his ex seem to not really care if he is in diapers until kindergarten apparently. I wonder if we just switched to underwear if he would get it, because nothing else is working. So many times I've sat him in there forever and within 2 minutes of getting a diaper he's poops. It's so frustrating!

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? He got a stool that makes him tall enough to stand at the kitchen counter and he wants to help cook all.the.things.

What is your toddler eating these days? Fruit, yogurt, and sometimes chicken. That's about it.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? He loves her so so so much. He always has to know where she is and wants to hold her and get his picture taken like 8 times a day. Kisses and hair pats any time he's near her. It's so sweet.
ETA:

[sunshineshades]

zombiesquad
How long has she been pee trained? My dd1 took almost 2 months to finally poop on the potty. I let it be. She pooped in her nap time diaper. When I tried to force pooping on the potty it was a screaming battle. Some kid are afraid to do it. With dd she was only really able to go during sleep I think because her body would just relax and go. She tended to struggle to poop.

Finally we were out to dinner one night and she told me she had to potty and went poop. After that she'd go.

[zombiesquad]

sunshineshades, halfahippy, I definitely think I'm going to let it go. It took about nine months for her be pee trained and one day it just kind of clicked and she finally started telling us when she needed to go potty about two months ago and it's gotten better since she's been in preschool. She complains about her tummy hurting, which usually means she has to poop. When she tells us, we usually force her to sit on the potty and it becomes a power struggle. So as long as she's not pooping in her underwear at school, I'm going to deal with the nighttime pooping and see if she'll just get it on her own. I waste what left of my night on the poop struggle and I'm tired of it.

[sctiger]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?

What are your big challenges right now? She just turned 3. Biggest challenge is being a slow poke. She has to do everything herself and it can be frustrating. We are going to have to do some work on this when I go back to work in August.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She started swim lessons and loves it! She also takes good care of her baby doll. We got lucky with potty training. She did it around two and a half and was poop and pee trained right away. We introduced the potty in the fall but one morning she woke up and decided she was ready.

What is your toddler eating these days? She's a good eater. She likes rice and beans, chicken, fruit, green beans, and pasta. Drinks milk and water.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? She loves her sister. It also helps that we still send her to school (we have to pay regardless) so she gets lots of social time and her routine is mostly the same.

[chatterbox]

Jun 23, 2016 8:12:38 GMT -5 zombiesquad said:

What a great idea. I have been at my wit's end with my 3yo lately.

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?
For the most part, everything is good. I expected there to be some rough patches with a new baby and we're certainly going through some right now.

What are your big challenges right now?
We are in the throes of living with a threenager. I wake up and wonder which 3yo will I get today? Happy and agreeable or grumpy and stubborn. I usually get the grumpy and stubborn kid. I have to be very careful how I word things. One false move on my part and the whole morning is a disaster. Right now we are working on pooping in the potty and no in her pull up at night. I sat in the bathroom for an hour waiting for her to poop one night. She refused to go. Went to bed and of course she pooped. It's been like that three nights in a row. We've tried bribing and rewards and both are ineffective with her. I've talked to her doctor and she definitely thinks even though she may not be able to stay dry through the night, she is old enough to know that pooping in the pull up is not okay. Ugh!

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
Since she started preschool, it is so fun to hear about her day and her new friends. She comes home and sings songs she learned and her vocabulary has really increased.

What is your toddler eating these days?
At home she doesn't eat the best. I hear that's a different story at school. But she's now excited about making a happy plate. She eats mostly chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, spaghetti, Chinese food--you know, real healthy stuff. She's terrible about vegetables, but loves fruit so I make sure to add that to whatever she's eating.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
She loves her little brother. She always gives him kisses and is very concerned when he's crying. However, I know that him being in the house is probably the cause of her random behavior at times. I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy it anyway because they will both grow up so fast.

No tips about the bottle, chatterbox. DD has proven to be a cold turkey kind of kid when it was time to get rid of things or she just did it on her own. It was the only thing that worked for us.

I'm dreading the threenager stage!!!

[sunshineshades]

Jun 23, 2016 10:00:08 GMT -5 zombiesquad said:

sunshineshades, halfahippy, I definitely think I'm going to let it go. It took about nine months for her be pee trained and one day it just kind of clicked and she finally started telling us when she needed to go potty about two months ago and it's gotten better since she's been in preschool. She complains about her tummy hurting, which usually means she has to poop. When she tells us, we usually force her to sit on the potty and it becomes a power struggle. So as long as she's not pooping in her underwear at school, I'm going to deal with the nighttime pooping and see if she'll just get it on her own. I waste what left of my night on the poop struggle and I'm tired of it.

This is 100% what I did. She never pooped in her underwear so I let it be after realizing how angry we were both getting. I actually had her on meds to try to make pooping easier but all it did was turn it to liquid. Still not on the potty lol. Once she did it we made a huge deal out of it. She was trying to tell everyone at the restaurant she was so excited lol.
If she made comments about yuck I pooped in my diaper that's bad. I just told her no it's ok but maybe next time we can try in the toilet, then it won't be so messy.
I'm not even sure she was intentionally pooping in her diaper or if it was when she was asleep.

[Missy0483]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We have good days and bad days! Jenna is 2 1/2.

What are your big challenges right now? Morning time. I'm too tired to get up earlier so I rush around like a crazy person every single morning and end up late. Ugh! Also, terrible twos are strong in this house.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She says "hat" but it sometimes sounds like "ass" lol. She calls fire trucks "weee ooo weee ooo gucks" She also started saying "love you" which sounds more like "yuv you" but it's the sweetest thing I've ever heard!!! She peed on the potty ONCE and not again, but continues to say "boops" (I guess that means poops?) and grabs at her diaper/takes it off so we spend a lot of time "fake" peeing.

What is your toddler eating these days? Everything. She likes whats on our plate better most of the time and she doesn't like us to cut up her food anymore, she wants the whole thing or it's meltdown city. She loves veggies, fruit, yogurt, bread, and french fries (which is adorable to hear her ask for).

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? She likes him a little too much, she is a little rough when she tries to hug him but she gives him kisses and high fives and tells him she loves him haha. She also tries to share her food with him so we need to watch that. She's started to become helpful with getting us diapers for him. She's not very quiet though, so he's never able to sleep around her.

[cinnamonsmiles]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?
I am super frustrated with the toddler. Bedtime last night was a nightmare.

What are your big challenges right now?
OH MY GOSH the whining has got to stop. Everything he does, he whines about, loud enough to wake sleeping babies. Last night I was putting V to sleep and he woke her up by yelling. After he went to bed, she wouldn't stop crying, which kept him from going to sleep. So he yelled, waking her up. I yelled at him and he finally went to sleep, but V screamed for an hour straight. And MH was at work so this was all solo.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
He's finally gotten the hang of saying sorry, and it's cute. "Oops, sorry." And he just learned what lotion is but calls it lone-tion, which cracks me up every time.

What is your toddler eating these days?
If he had his way, he would only eat cheese, yogurt, fruit, crackers, and beef. Instead, we eat everything else first and then those.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
He likes her. His favorite thing is flipping her over for tummy time, whether she's ready or not. And he likes that she is starting to interact with him more.

[songbirdsinging55]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? Good for the most part. I am dealing with PPA but the medicine seems to be working.

What are your big challenges right now? Getting back into the routine of work and pumping. Also giving Evie enough tummy time. Isaac runs all over the place and I worry he will step all over her.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? He has begun singing and dancing. He knows the little dances to nursery rhyme songs. He also refers to Evie by her name.

What is your toddler eating these days? He has become picky recently. He is into cheese, pasta, veggies and fruits. Berries and applesauce are his favorites. He does love PB & J and pizza.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? He absolutely loves her. He tries to show her things all the time. He brings me books to read to both of them and he tries to rock her in her little rocker seat. He asks to give her hugs and kisses. He always want to spend time with her.

[chatterbox]

Jun 23, 2016 15:29:41 GMT -5 cinnamonsmiles said:

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing?
I am super frustrated with the toddler. Bedtime last night was a nightmare.

What are your big challenges right now?
OH MY GOSH the whining has got to stop. Everything he does, he whines about, loud enough to wake sleeping babies. Last night I was putting V to sleep and he woke her up by yelling. After he went to bed, she wouldn't stop crying, which kept him from going to sleep. So he yelled, waking her up. I yelled at him and he finally went to sleep, but V screamed for an hour straight. And MH was at work so this was all solo.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing?
He's finally gotten the hang of saying sorry, and it's cute. "Oops, sorry." And he just learned what lotion is but calls it lone-tion, which cracks me up every time.

What is your toddler eating these days?
If he had his way, he would only eat cheese, yogurt, fruit, crackers, and beef. Instead, we eat everything else first and then those.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately?
He likes her. His favorite thing is flipping her over for tummy time, whether she's ready or not. And he likes that she is starting to interact with him more.

Sorry last night was so rough! Hope tonight goes better for you!!!

[michelleca]

Great thread!
How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? It's busy, but pretty good. Too much screen time though..

What are your big challenges right now? Typical (almost) threenager. Crazy attitude. The baby is a breeze compared to him.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? He's so smart. Yesterday he asked me to have another baby, he loves babies. He also asked me what a word I said meant.

What is your toddler eating these days? He loves pasta. And timbits.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? So much love! It's a little irritating though, he always wants to touch her.

[fignewt]

Jun 23, 2016 10:46:46 GMT -5 sunshineshades said:

Jun 23, 2016 10:00:08 GMT -5 zombiesquad said:

sunshineshades, halfahippy, I definitely think I'm going to let it go. It took about nine months for her be pee trained and one day it just kind of clicked and she finally started telling us when she needed to go potty about two months ago and it's gotten better since she's been in preschool. She complains about her tummy hurting, which usually means she has to poop. When she tells us, we usually force her to sit on the potty and it becomes a power struggle. So as long as she's not pooping in her underwear at school, I'm going to deal with the nighttime pooping and see if she'll just get it on her own. I waste what left of my night on the poop struggle and I'm tired of it.

This is 100% what I did. She never pooped in her underwear so I let it be after realizing how angry we were both getting. I actually had her on meds to try to make pooping easier but all it did was turn it to liquid. Still not on the potty lol. Once she did it we made a huge deal out of it. She was trying to tell everyone at the restaurant she was so excited lol.
If she made comments about yuck I pooped in my diaper that's bad. I just told her no it's ok but maybe next time we can try in the toilet, then it won't be so messy.
I'm not even sure she was intentionally pooping in her diaper or if it was when she was asleep.

This sounds totally crazy but we were in the same boat a year ago, i was throwing away poopy underpants almost everyday (and gagging from m/s) until my 60-year old neighbor told me to tell DS2 that the poopies are going into the potty/toilet to go to their poppy/doo-doo party. I thought she was nuts but was at the end of my rope so
I tried it, and it worked! DS2 is 3.5 and still talks/asks about the doodoo party occasionally - it is hilarious!

[cinnamonsmiles]

Does anyone have an "okay to wake" clock they recommend? I'm thinking of getting one for DS to see if it helps with him yelling early in the morning...

[fignewt]

Jun 24, 2016 20:55:14 GMT -5 cinnamonsmiles said:

Does anyone have an "okay to wake" clock they recommend? I'm thinking of getting one for DS to see if it helps with him yelling early in the morning...

We use this one:
www.amazon.com/Wake-Childrens-Alarm-Clock-Night-Light/dp/B002RNKOM2
DS2 did not get the concept at first but we kept expaining it to him and now he is a champ - he usually gets up around 5:45 and i can hear him quietly talking to himself until the green light goes on...

[sunshineshades]

Jun 24, 2016 20:55:14 GMT -5 cinnamonsmiles said:

Does anyone have an "okay to wake" clock they recommend? I'm thinking of getting one for DS to see if it helps with him yelling early in the morning...

We have something similar. Have had it since dd was just under 3.
It works great for us. She stays in her room until 7 am when her sun comes up and for naps from 1-3 waiting for her sun.
Sometimes she does show up in our room early. Usually to potty. Then we send her back and if she asks turn her light on so she can play while she waits.

[tacocatmom]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We are surviving! I feel like we have gotten on a good schedule this past month. My oldest is 15 months.

What are your big challenges right now? DD still needs help with everything, so it's hard taking her places with the baby in tow. Luckily O is pretty chill and will hang out in the car seat while we are at the park or gymnastics class.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She is learning words. Every morning I have both of them at the table for breakfast and she says "Hi Owie" and waves at him.

What is your toddler eating these days? She eats EVERYTHING.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? She tries to body slam or hit him in the head. She looks at me and laughs while she does it. So baby O can't be left alone anywhere near her.

[chatterbox]

Jun 26, 2016 22:23:38 GMT -5 tacocatmom said:

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We are surviving! I feel like we have gotten on a good schedule this past month. My oldest is 15 months.

What are your big challenges right now? DD still needs help with everything, so it's hard taking her places with the baby in tow. Luckily O is pretty chill and will hang out in the car seat while we are at the park or gymnastics class.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She is learning words. Every morning I have both of them at the table for breakfast and she says "Hi Owie" and waves at him.

What is your toddler eating these days? She eats EVERYTHING.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? She tries to body slam or hit him in the head. She looks at me and laughs while she does it. So baby O can't be left alone anywhere near her.

I'm having a hard time taking both of mine places too. I'm hoping it gets easier. My little guy will not hang out in the car seat during DD's classes so I wear him, which makes it difficult to wrangle the toddler when I need to.

[carissa325]

Jun 27, 2016 4:45:44 GMT -5 chatterbox said:

Jun 26, 2016 22:23:38 GMT -5 tacocatmom said:

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? We are surviving! I feel like we have gotten on a good schedule this past month. My oldest is 15 months.

What are your big challenges right now? DD still needs help with everything, so it's hard taking her places with the baby in tow. Luckily O is pretty chill and will hang out in the car seat while we are at the park or gymnastics class.

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? She is learning words. Every morning I have both of them at the table for breakfast and she says "Hi Owie" and waves at him.

What is your toddler eating these days? She eats EVERYTHING.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? She tries to body slam or hit him in the head. She looks at me and laughs while she does it. So baby O can't be left alone anywhere near her.

I'm having a hard time taking both of mine places too. I'm hoping it gets easier. My little guy will not hang out in the car seat during DD's classes so I wear him, which makes it difficult to wrangle the toddler when I need to.

Yes. Going anywhere with two is so much harder. We are potty training right now. Helping a two year old in the bathroom while wearing C or trying to fit the carrier in the bathroom with us has become my new nightmare.

[chatterbox]

Jun 27, 2016 5:48:43 GMT -5 carissa325 said:

Jun 27, 2016 4:45:44 GMT -5 chatterbox said:

I'm having a hard time taking both of mine places too. I'm hoping it gets easier. My little guy will not hang out in the car seat during DD's classes so I wear him, which makes it difficult to wrangle the toddler when I need to.

Yes. Going anywhere with two is so much harder. We are potty training right now. Helping a two year old in the bathroom while wearing C or trying to fit the carrier in the bathroom with us has become my new nightmare.

That does sound like a nightmare! One more reason why I'm in no rush to potty train! Luckily I don't think DD is ready anyway.

[minae01]

How is everyone with a baby and a toddler/s doing? DS1 is 3.5 so not quite a toddler and DS2 is 2. We are surviving. Life is pretty chaotic. I go from loving my life to thinking "what the hell did we do???"

What are your big challenges right now? In general, the 3 year old whining and crying constantly and the 2 year old not listening. Right now, our challenge is getting over this upper respiratory bug that is ravaging our family!

What new/cute things is your toddler doing? His language skills have drastically improved lately. I was referred to EI at his 2 year because we couldn't understand much he said. He loves to sing and will randomly break out in song. He will hug people and say "Aww! I'm cute!"

What is your toddler eating these days? Ugh. Not much. He's so picky. I make separate meals for him because if he doesn't eat, he won't sleep at night. I hate that I do that! The only way he'll eat veggies is when they are hidden in a pouch. DS1 will try foods and likes most veggies.

How is your toddler feeling about the baby lately? DS2 could take her or leave her. He says hi to her. DS1 adores her and is always all over her.